Official Mandarin and Dragonet Show off thread

[JoeDigiorgio]

Good news! My pair is acclimating as I type. When I got them, I noticed the male had some minor fin damage, which I hadn't noticed last week, hopefully it was just a hermit or something. I'm going to keep a close eye to make sure he pulls through. The pair has officially been named by my girlfriend, as Mushu & Maleficent (M&M).

 

 

 

 

Tons of tips throughout this thread. I know it's very long to read through. One of the easiest methods is using some type of breeder box to contain the fish inside your tank, and feed it inside there, so it has a chance to get the food.

 

On the note of this tread being super long, maybe we can get an edit to the first post to consolidate the information.

To be truthful, the breeder box trick never actually worked for me. It's something Melev strongly advocated and I think it's definitely got merit in larger tanks where targeting them is impossible but in the small tanks we all have on this forum idk if its necessary. For example, I cannot imagine a 29biocube being a large enough space that a 2-3" fish cannot be target feed even during training.

 

And I know it's a long thread but I really don't think there is another or more complete compilation of true dragonet success stories in small aquaria.

[Obsessed Reefer]

And I know it's a long thread but I really don't think there is another or more complete compilation of true dragonet success stories in small aquaria.

 

I meant more so like editing to consolidate specific items, such as ways to train them, and what not. Just so that you don't have to skim through 60 pages of photos to find certain information.

[JoeDigiorgio]

I wasn't hinting that it was a bad idea just encouraging people who are genuinely interested to read the whole thing.

[Obsessed Reefer]

Oh and so do I. I truly enjoyed reading it.

[Jorgieee]

Good news! My pair is acclimating as I type. When I got them, I noticed the male had some minor fin damage, which I hadn't noticed last week, hopefully it was just a hermit or something. I'm going to keep a close eye to make sure he pulls through. The pair has officially been named by my girlfriend, as Mushu & Maleficent (M&M).

 

 

 

 

Tons of tips throughout this thread. I know it's very long to read through. One of the easiest methods is using some type of breeder box to contain the fish inside your tank, and feed it inside there, so it has a chance to get the food.

 

On the note of this tread being super long, maybe we can get an edit to the first post to consolidate the information.

 

 

Thanks !! Yeah it's super long I was scrolling through the the pages until I posted a post. And that would be great if it is possible and can be done

[metrokat]

I'll work on it

[Obsessed Reefer]

So last night when I got the fish home, after they were acclimated into the tank, I tried feeding them some reef nutrition roe, mysis, and bbs. They really didn't eat much, if anything that I saw, aside from maybe some bbs, which makes sense, as they ate at the store. This morning I fed some roe and mysis, they ignored the roe, and the female ate some mysis, the male was following it around and picked at something, couldn't tell exactly what it was.

[Jorgieee]

So last night when I got the fish home, after they were acclimated into the tank, I tried feeding them some reef nutrition roe, mysis, and bbs. They really didn't eat much, if anything that I saw, aside from maybe some bbs, which makes sense, as they ate at the store. This morning I fed some roe and mysis, they ignored the roe, and the female ate some mysis, the male was following it around and picked at something, couldn't tell exactly what it was.

 

Just curious you just started food training them in the breeder box recently ? I plan on getting one today and giving it a shot

[Obsessed Reefer]

Just curious you just started food training them in the breeder box recently ? I plan on getting one today and giving it a shot

 

So sorta. My lfs has had my pair for about a month, and has had them on hold for me since they got them basically. I had asked if he could hold them for a few weeks while I got my fuge set up, and he said no problem. He basically got the female trained there, just by snowballing the tank with mysis. I'm guessing the male started picking up on it a little towards the last week they were there.

 

I brought them home yesterday night, and after they were acclimated into my tank and located in the breeder box (which I'm just using the CPR in-tank fuge to hold them), I fed a little mysis, and neither of them touched it, which made sense because they were fed at the store before I got them.

 

This morning, I fed a little roe and mysis, they both seemingly ignored the roe, and the female ate the mysis, which affirms she was just full last night. Tonight, however, when I got home from work, I mixed the roe and mysis, and again, seemingly ignored the roe, but both of them ate the mysis.

 

I'm still going to leave them in the box for a few days, as my male has some fin damage I want to make sure heals up, and it'll also give them a few good days of isolated feeding.

 

If I didn't have my lfs to basically train them for me, it would have been a much longer and more drawn out process.

[Simone]

To be truthful, the breeder box trick never actually worked for me. It's something Melev strongly advocated and I think it's definitely got merit in larger tanks where targeting them is impossible but in the small tanks we all have on this forum idk if its necessary. For example, I cannot imagine a 29biocube being a large enough space that a 2-3" fish cannot be target feed even during training.

 

I can see what you're saying and I think there are multiple ways to success but I still think there is merit in using a breeder box for small tanks. I think that letting the mandarin into the tank right away can backfire because the fish can choose to ignore the target feeding and just eat pods (especially if one has been diligent in establishing a good pod population). I also think there is something to having the fish be in such close proximity to the new foods and not be able to just swim away that encourages them to take that first taste.

 

I've also heard more than one person who did not use the box and had a failure with their first mandarin say "Well the fish wasn't really eating the frozen food but seemed to be doing ok just on pods so I thought it was ok." Obviously this is not a well-informed perspective but if advocating using the box helps save some of these fish I think it is worthwhile.

 

Just my two cents based on my limited experience.

[Jorgieee]

So sorta. My lfs has had my pair for about a month, and has had them on hold for me since they got them basically. I had asked if he could hold them for a few weeks while I got my fuge set up, and he said no problem. He basically got the female trained there, just by snowballing the tank with mysis. I'm guessing the male started picking up on it a little towards the last week they were there.

 

I brought them home yesterday night, and after they were acclimated into my tank and located in the breeder box (which I'm just using the CPR in-tank fuge to hold them), I fed a little mysis, and neither of them touched it, which made sense because they were fed at the store before I got them.

 

This morning, I fed a little roe and mysis, they both seemingly ignored the roe, and the female ate the mysis, which affirms she was just full last night. Tonight, however, when I got home from work, I mixed the roe and mysis, and again, seemingly ignored the roe, but both of them ate the mysis.

 

I'm still going to leave them in the box for a few days, as my male has some fin damage I want to make sure heals up, and it'll also give them a few good days of isolated feeding.

 

If I didn't have my lfs to basically train them for me, it would have been a much longer and more drawn out process.

 

Gotcha ! That was nice of them, I am going to have to train them myself since my LFS are douches you recommend getting a breeder box and putting in there for how long after he begins eating that you can put him in my actual tank thanks !

[Jstn]

So my male mandarin has some front fin rot, his front fins have always been misshaped a in the form of a Y instead of the leaf shape, it seems to be getting worse, is there any cure for this?

 

He is also fat and the female is doing fine.

[Obsessed Reefer]

So the male had ended up jumping out of the container into the display this morning, I didn't have any time to do anything as I was late for work. When I got home, I realized it was the male, and released the female as well, and then fed the entire tank. The male seemed perfectly fine, and has been moving around the tank.

[Jorgieee]

So the male had ended up jumping out of the container into the display this morning, I didn't have any time to do anything as I was late for work. When I got home, I realized it was the male, and released the female as well, and then fed the entire tank. The male seemed perfectly fine, and has been moving around the tank.

 

I spoke to someone at my LFS and they told me that can happen. I'm just going to just stick him in my 29 gallon and hope i can get him to eat, since they were feeding of brine shrimp I might just have some luck

[Tamberav]

So my male mandarin has some front fin rot, his front fins have always been misshaped a in the form of a Y instead of the leaf shape, it seems to be getting worse, is there any cure for this?

 

He is also fat and the female is doing fine.

 

Picture? You sure someone isn't nipping him?

 

Fin rot is usually from an injury and then poor water quality so it ends up infected. The treatment is antibiotics but mandarin's are sensitive to med's you would want to make sure to have a correct diagnosis. Even then, I try not to use med's on mandarin's for any reason unless absolutely dire. I would just try and just treat it with pristine water and good diet first.

[Obsessed Reefer]

Look who showed up in the Divers Den today. I wish I had more money in my tank funds.

 

https://flic.kr/p/pJW5xz'>

https://flic.kr/p/pJW5xz'>Screen Shot 2014-10-20 at 1.03.47 PM by https://www.flickr.com/people/126151760@N05/'>darth.slover, on Flickr

[CronicReefer]

I got one of those from my LFS about 3 weeks ago and they are definitely an awesome fish and not very timid for their size. They seem to never stop eating too. By the end of the day my fish's stomach makes him look like fat albert.

[jedimasterben]

Look who showed up in the Divers Den today. I wish I had more money in my tank funds.

 

 

(pic of a ruby red)

I would see if your LFS can order them. The markup on LiveAquaria borders on insane. Wholesale cost on them is around $10.

[Obsessed Reefer]

I would see if your LFS can order them. The markup on LiveAquaria borders on insane. Wholesale cost on them is around $10.

Ye . Either way, no money or room right now.

[BulkRate]

I would see if your LFS can order them. The markup on LiveAquaria borders on insane. Wholesale cost on them is around $10.

 

Well, supposedly you're paying for the quarantine protocols and the idea that the fish is in good health before it ships to you, hence the markup. The local store where I buy my fish does much the same and as a result their prices are a good bit higher than several others. Buuuuut I've never had something unwelcome come in on anything I've bought there, so if you factor in medication cost & time to run a proper course of it + the hassle of setting up a hospital tank I feel it's a decent trade-off. IMO one of the most frustrating aspects of the hobby is having a $20 fish cause $100's worth of losses.

 

That said... if at all possible Ben's suggestion is the better way. There's a lot that can go wrong with shipping a fish, even for a pretty upscale outfit like DD and nothing beats being able to see the actual fish actually swimming prior to purchase. Bonus if you go the local store route there's a decent chance of figuring out what if any foods it'll accept before money changes hands (again, depending on the quality of the store in question).

[jedimasterben]

Well, supposedly you're paying for the quarantine protocols and the idea that the fish is in good health before it ships to you, hence the markup. The local store where I buy my fish does much the same and as a result their prices are a good bit higher than several others. Buuuuut I've never had something unwelcome come in on anything I've bought there, so if you factor in medication cost & time to run a proper course of it + the hassle of setting up a hospital tank I feel it's a decent trade-off. IMO one of the most frustrating aspects of the hobby is having a $20 fish cause $100's worth of losses.

While DD fish can sometimes be the best of the best, it's not always the case. I've had several fish come from DD that all either had intestinal worms or were infected with C. irritans. Acropora have come from it covered in flatworms or red bugs, zoanthids have come harboring nudibranchs, etc. DD is good, but they are not perfect.

 

The average time spent in DD's fish quarantine is usually 7-20 days according to what I've seen DFS put on their product pages. The first 'ruby red' dragonets that DD sold (for $400 for a pair) said that they were quarantined and conditioned since xx of xx, which when I looked at the date was only around 24 days. That is barely enough to have even been through deworming, much less anything else. In addition, it did not mention any foods that they were eating, leaving me to assume that they were still simply foraging for benthic copepods. Not worth more than $20-25 for that.

[BulkRate]

While DD fish can sometimes be the best of the best, it's not always the case. I've had several fish come from DD that all either had intestinal worms or were infected with C. irritans. Acropora have come from it covered in flatworms or red bugs, zoanthids have come harboring nudibranchs, etc. DD is good, but they are not perfect.

 

The average time spent in DD's fish quarantine is usually 7-20 days according to what I've seen DFS put on their product pages. The first 'ruby red' dragonets that DD sold (for $400 for a pair) said that they were quarantined and conditioned since xx of xx, which when I looked at the date was only around 24 days. That is barely enough to have even been through deworming, much less anything else. In addition, it did not mention any foods that they were eating, leaving me to assume that they were still simply foraging for benthic copepods. Not worth more than $20-25 for that.

 

Hence the "supposedly" part. And why I like to be able to determine if the fish in question looks like an extra from The Walking Dead before I purchase it, not after it's been delivered to my doorstep.

 

Downside of being here in ATL - nothing close to wholesale pricing on, well, anything. On sooper-dooper sale + local reefer's club discount those ruby reds were pushing $70-90 apiece... and that was AFTER every store had a pair or three in stock and the initial ReefBuilder's "OMG... NEW FISH!!!" hype had a chance to die down.

[Jorgieee]

i just got my mandarin two days ago i tried feeding her mysis and she just looked at it hopefully she eats it I'm thinking its the switching of tanks, at the store i saw her eat some pellets and frozen food ! any suggestions other than the breeder box ?

[Tamberav]

Sometimes Diver's Den dragonets are eating prepared foods but they will list it. Usually mysis or ova.

 

My 1st ruby from DD was extremely underweight and I got a refund. I think it was an oversight as someone near me ordered one as well and it was very fat.

[JoeDigiorgio]

If you really look through their info, they list the foods they feed based on fish grouping. Pipes, dragonets, seahorses and some other stuff are only even offered mysis and enriched brine. What they're actually eating is another story. It's not like DD dragnets are eating pellets with spoons or krill with fork and knife I mean come on.